February 2010

Since the earliest days of electronic music, composers have developed the natural relationship between electronic sounds and images of cosmic space.

Free at last from the limits of physical instruments, they could create vast stereo spaces and sustain tones endlessly, with an unlimited palette of pitch, timbre, modulation, and resonance. In time the electronic studio became a vehicle for virtual space flight. It's a theme we've been pursuing since our 23rd program back in 1983.

The waning days of winter are a particularly good time to take a cosmic vacation. Restless from too much time indoors, we seek expansive sounds and galactic spaces, filled with dark drones or floating harmonies, a sense of adventure and discovery. On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, an interstellar journey called COSMIC TRAVELER, with spacemusic by JONN SERRIE, DAVID PARSONS, PHILLIP WILKERSON and MEG BOWLES.

This new version of the HOS custom Flash
player fixes some minor issues and improves various aspects of normal
operation. It should load automatically when you arrive at HOS.com.

We tried to launch it last month but it wasn't quite ready for active duty. In the interim, we fixed the original issues, found a new bug and fixed that, and tested everything thoroughly. So we will be very surprised if there are any problems with this build.

To verify your player version: right click on the large banner to see the
version number.

If you see anything lower
than v2.9.5, your browser is stubbornly holding on to the old version. Please
click the "Reset" link at the upper left corner of the site to reload the newest version. In the few
cases where this doesn't work ("sticky" browsers) you can clear your browser "cache" by
following the instructions in our Help! section. Write to help@hos.com if you need assistance.

Among the changes:

[1]
BANNER OPERATION: Now when you first arrive at HOS.com, the player displays our
banner image full strength for 10 seconds, then changes to the
"interactive" view (banner dimmed, controls visible) for another 10
seconds. If you don't interact with the player it then reverts to the
full strength view (minimum text and controls).

Anytime you move the
cursor over the player, it immediately reveals the interactive view.
After 10 seconds of inactivity, it will fade back to the full strength
view again while you are playing music and show you only the Now Playing information. If you don't want this, just leave your cursor over the player.

[2] VOICEOVER ON/OFF
(microphone) button: now works anytime. Previously you had to make your
choice while a program was actually running. Now you can press it
anytime and it will toggle between on and off. As before, the player
will save your choice when you log out and log back in.

[3]
IMAGE GALLERY LINK: We've added a visible text link for the new
program's "Image Gallery." It's visible when the player is in the interactive view. The gallery is a collection of 18 Flickr.com images
that relate to the current week's program. There are thousands of
awesome photographers posting millions of great images on Flickr. If
you enjoy our banners, please take a moment to view the entire gallery. Click on any image to view the "photostreams" of the source artist
photographers.

[4] SCROLLWHEEL SUPPORT: We've Improved
support for scrollwheel operation on Macs. This was not working on some
combinations of the Mac OS and browser, should be much improved now.

Gongs, bells and bowls. This trio of metal instruments pack a sonic and psychological punch way out of proportion with their utter simplicity.

Long revered for their role in religious ceremonies, almost magical in their ability to delight and entrance, they stand virtually alone in the resonant space between music and pure sound. They've been joined in recent years by the synthesizer. It's not simple, but it can create sounds unconstrained by the physical limitations of vibrating materials. As you'll hear...it's a marriage made in heaven.

On this transmission of HEARTS of SPACE, another journey in the resonant space of bells, bowls, gongs — and synthesizers, on a program called SACRED SINGING METALS.

Music and sound experiences are by XUMANTRA, HUMAN METRONOME and 33 TETRAGAMMON, STEVEN HALPERN, LIQUID BELLS, DEUTER, and KLAUS WIESE.

Under the gray skies and chilled atmospheres of winter, we attune to a slower pulse. Activities curtailed for the moment, there's time to dream a bit, and for that we revisit our old standby, the grand piano.

Though large and massive in the physical world, in the world of music, the piano can fly and float...on weightless waves of sound. And when combined with ambient electronics, we have a potent vehicle for travel...to deep and distant dimensions.

On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a piano/chamber/electronic journey called FLOATING REVERIES. Music is by LUDOVICO EINAUDI, ELENI KARAINDROU, BRUNO SANFILLIPO, ASHLEY/ROEDELIUS/STORY, and MICHAEL JONES.

With eerie clarity, JOHN SURMAN's soprano saxophone rings out across a chilled, silent soundscape. It could be tundra, steppes, fjords, ice fields, or mountain valleys. The very ambiguity of the space of this music is part of its power.

Judging by recent NASA photos and a little imagination, it could even be a sound heard on Mars. On this transmission of Hearts of Space, a late winter report from the intersection of electronica and chilled-out jazz...called MOUNTAINS OF MARS.